Parenting With Psychology

How to stop toddler whining comes down to one instruction: answer the voice, not the whine. Whether it’s a snack, a toy, or five more minutes of screen time, this video gives you the exact two sentences to say the second the whine starts. You’ll learn why giving in “just this once” keeps the whine coming back louder, why snapping or over-explaining doesn’t stop it either, and what it actually soun...

Whether you lean strict or soft, you've probably never been told which parenting style you slip into, or what the research shows happens to kids raised inside each one. This video walks you through the three you're most likely to land in, in plain language, with no shame attached and gives you the piece you've been missing: Reasoned Rules, the way into the style linked to the best outcomes for kid...

Is your child misbehaving at school and you don't know how to respond when the call comes in?  When your child is misbehaving at school, the call itself is often the hardest part, the instant defensiveness, embarrassment, or panic that hits before you even know the full story. This video walks through a simple 3-step method for responding to a school behavior report in a way that actually cha...

Learning how to build confidence in kids starts with a hard truth: the instinct to jump in and help isn't just harmless, it can quietly teach your child that they can't handle hard things alone. If your child refuses the puzzle above their level, hides when it's their turn, or gives up the second something gets tricky, this is the pattern behind it. Confidence for kids doesn't come from praise or...

You've asked your child to do something for the fifth time, you're already late, and something in your chest goes hot before you've even decided how to respond. That's the amygdala hijack and it's the reason you sometimes hear yourself yell something you didn't plan to say. This podcast walks through exactly what's happening in your brain in that moment, why the instinct to raise your voice louder...

Posting your kids online feels harmless — a cute photo, a proud caption, gone in the time it takes your thumb to move from camera roll to send. But most parents are moving faster than they realize, and the research on what that actually creates for your child might surprise you. This podcast breaks down exactly what's happening every time you hit post, why the instinct behind it is a good one even...

There are four recognized parenting styles, and most parents have never been told which one they default to, or what the research actually shows happens to kids raised inside each one. This video breaks down all four, in plain language, with no shame attached. You'll learn the difference between rules that build respect and rules that just build compliance, why "being the fun parent" can quietly b...

When your child prefers one parent, that stretch where they suddenly only want one of you — it's one of the most common and most misunderstood phases in early parenting. Most parents respond by accidentally gamifying it, and that's the exact thing that makes it worse. In this podcast, a licensed clinical psychologist breaks down why treating "who do you want tonight?" like a contest backfires, and...

When another child hits your toddler, the instinct to snap at the other kid — or tell your own child to hit back — is completely understandable. Neither one teaches your child what actually helps. This video walks through what to do instead, including the honest answer to the question almost every parent asks at some point: should you ever teach your child to hit back? Physical aggression in toddl...

Another child takes your toddler's toy, and you freeze or you feel your blood pressure spike at the other parent standing right there, not stepping in. This video walks through exactly what to say and do, whether or not the other parent gets involved. Toddlers as young as 20 months already actively assert ownership, and by 30 months they're standing their ground against a peer's attempts to take w...

If your toddler keeps hitting other kids — not a single tap, but real, repeated hitting — you've probably already heard "check in with the hurt child first." That advice is right, but it's incomplete. It doesn't tell you what to actually do about the hitting itself, especially when it keeps happening. In this episode, I'm walking through the CATCH Method — the exact 5-step sequence I use in my pra...

✨ Want a proven way to handle every parenting conflict with confidence? Register for the free workshop → https://www.drlindsayemmerson.com/workshop Your toddler grabs a toy from another child, and suddenly you're not just managing your kid — you're managing your own embarrassment in front of the other parent. This episode walks through exactly what to say to your child, and how to handle the othe...

✨ 🔗 Want proven strategies for how to talk to teenagers from a child psychologist? Register for the free workshop → https://www.drlindsayemmerson.com/workshop Every month you spend in the wrong dynamic with your teenager is a month they practice keeping you out. And once that becomes a habit, it's very hard to reverse. This episode breaks down the 3 most critical things that keep the relationshi...

✨ 🔗 Want proven strategies for building confidence in kids from a child psychologist? Register for the free workshop → https://www.drlindsayemmerson.com/workshop If you've been praising your child's grades, celebrating their trophies, and telling them how proud you are every time they perform well — you may be accidentally building the kind of confidence that collapses the moment things go wrong...

✨ 🔗 Want proven strategies beyond toddler behavior from a child psychologist? Register for the free workshop → https://www.drlindsayemmerson.com/workshop Most parenting advice about toddler behavior gets it completely backwards — and if you've been following it, you may be accidentally training your toddler to keep doing the exact thing you're trying to stop. This video breaks down the 3 most cr...

✨ 🔗 Want proven strategies beyond toddler behavior from a child psychologist? Register for the free workshop → https://www.drlindsayemmerson.com/workshop   Most parenting advice about toddler behavior gets it completely backwards — and if you've been following it, you may be accidentally training your toddler to keep doing the exact thing you're trying to stop. This video breaks down the 3 most...

✨ 🔗 Want proven strategies to build secure attachment from a child psychologist? Register for the free workshop → https://www.drlindsayemmerson.com/workshop As a clinical psychologist who works with hundreds of families every day, I've seen one pattern clearly: the first year of your baby's life is the most critical window for building secure attachment baby — the foundation that shapes their br...

✨ 🔗 Want proven strategies to build secure attachment from a child psychologist? Register for the free workshop → https://www.drlindsayemmerson.com/workshop   As a clinical psychologist who works with hundreds of families every day, I've seen one pattern clearly: the first year of your baby's life is the most critical window for building secure attachment baby — the foundation that shapes their...

✨ Want proven strategies for child hitting and beyond from a child psychologist? Register for the free workshop → https://www.drlindsayemmerson.com/workshop When your toddler hits another child — at a playdate, at preschool, with a sibling — the stakes feel completely different than when they hit you. Parents are managing three relationships at once: their child, the child who got hit, and the ot...

✨ Want proven strategies for child hitting and beyond from a child psychologist? Register for the free workshop → https://www.drlindsayemmerson.com/workshop When your toddler hits another child — at a playdate, at preschool, with a sibling — the stakes feel completely different than when they hit you. Parents are managing three relationships at once: their child, the child who got hit, and the ot...

✨ Want proven strategies beyond toddler hitting from a child psychologist? Register for the free workshop → https://www.drlindsayemmerson.com/workshop Why toddlers hit is one of the most common questions I get from parents — and the most common responses parents reach for are actually reinforcing the very behavior they're trying to stop. This video breaks down the five responses most parents use...

✨  Want proven strategies beyond toddler hitting from a child psychologist? Register for the free workshop → https://www.drlindsayemmerson.com/workshop Why toddlers hit is one of the most common questions I get from parents — and the most common responses parents reach for are actually reinforcing the very behavior they're trying to stop. This video breaks down the five responses most parents use...

✨ Stop toddler tantrums before they start. Learn the complete system: drlindsayemmerson.com/workshop Stop toddler tantrums before they start by catching the Pivot Window — the specific period before a child fully dysregulates where three strategies can redirect the escalation entirely. Dr. Lindsay Emmerson explains why the instinctive parental responses in this window make meltdowns more likely,...

✨ Stop toddler tantrums before they start. Learn the complete system: drlindsayemmerson.com/workshop Stop toddler tantrums before they start by catching the Pivot Window — the specific period before a child fully dysregulates where three strategies can redirect the escalation entirely. Dr. Lindsay Emmerson explains why the instinctive parental responses in this window make meltdowns more likely,...

✨ Ready to move beyond what to do during a toddler tantrum — and what to stop doing? → drlindsayemmerson.com/workshop Knowing what to do during a toddler tantrum is one of the most common questions parents search — and most of the instinctive answers make tantrums last longer. In this video, Dr. Lindsay Emmerson explains why the Escalation Loop runs on parental engagement, and gives parents the t...